Musings from a Chiropractor – Health Function Performance

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Today is Ash Wednesday, marking the beginning of Lent.
The traditional, or rather most common method of observing this religious period is by fasting, or “giving up” something that they consider a vice.

Over the years, this has become somewhat secularized, and even non-Catholics will observe the custom.

I thought about it long and hard, and I could not think of anything I wanted to “give up.” I felt that this would be too easy of a challenge. I thought about things that I wanted to change or accomplish, and decided that this year, I would be using these 40 days to commit to bettering myself.

The past few months have been very stressful; I made some important career choices, and have been struggling with both mental blocks and physical injuries.

I feel it is important to write down goals in order to achieve them – if it’s out there, it’s got to happen!

For the next 40 days, I am committing myself to scheduling 60 minutes of “me time” in which I am to better myself – progressing my workouts, reading a book or all the saved journal articles on my computer, or meditation (which, if you know me, is extremely difficult for me).

For the past week, I immersed myself in learning about human motion, gait, and biomechanics.

Anatomy in Motion, with amazing individuals Gary Ward and Chris Srithraran, changed the way I looked, both at myself, and other individuals, with respect to movement and motion.

I think the quote that hit home for me was from Chris, when he said “human movement in trained, human motion is not.”

I learned so much this past week, and I woke up this morning feeling energized. Did a few 3D exercises as part of my morning flow workout (seriously, the chronic hip pain I’ve been hacking away at with conventional training for the past 2.5 months has almost disappeared since learning these exercises last week), packed my clinic bag (not forgetting my new tools (wedges)), and embarked on a new journey to practice what I learned and hopefully affect my patients.

I was nervous to put into play this new knowledge. It was all so brand new, but I knew that I could only improve my skills if I practice them!

My first success came today with a patient with chronic adductor strain. We’ve been working together for a while, training, manual therapy, taping, etc., he’d get better, and lo and behold he’d go back to playing high level sports and I’d be getting another phone call.

He came in today, limping, and I was ready. I did my normal assessment, and then “zoomed out.” I basically walked across the room and watched my patient move. I saw something right away – something I would have never seen if I had focused on the chief complaint. Experimented a bit with the wedges, encouraged some eccentric loading, and after a few reps with some manual guidance, he took a walk and his eyes bugged out his head – he was walking without pain at all, and I barely touched his hip or adductor!

As Gary would say, we were both totally “chuffed.”

I can’t wait to continue learning, experimenting, and practicing. This has been a total game changer, and I’m looking forward to having some fun.

On a more personal note, with some fat snowflakes making an appearance, I’m looking forward to a pain-free ski/snowboard season! #rideharderlongerbetter

This little company (Osha Paddle Boarding and Yoga) works out of Budapest Park in Toronto (just a little ways down from Sunnyside). Check them out! I had a great experience. I’m a total yoga noob, but the group was great, the instructor was great, and I can’t wait to do it again!

I came across this amazing video all shot with the GoPro camera.
It has a great message as well – musculoskeletal disorders accounts for 21.3% of all years lived with disability and is one of the leading causes of global disability.

Overwhelming research suggests movement is the cheapest and most effective cure and prevention for musculoskeletal disease.

You might not be able to do all the stuff in this video, but one thing is for certain, the love of freedom of movement and every person in the video is doing something they love. Find your passion and get moving!

There are so many things to be thankful for! Wishing everyone happiness and good health!

And just a reminder for everyone to get moving this fall!
Here’s some inspiration – hiking in the woods with my dog. You can’t really see it in this photo, but the leaves are starting to change colours and it was so beautiful!